May 29, 2013

Jerome Henderson: S Matt Johnson is no different than rookie because of the missed time last year

There was a time last year when Dallas Cowboys safety Matt
Johnson didn’t even to answer his phone for fear of the endless questions from
concerned friends and family about his practice status, let alone whether he was
ever going to play in a game.

“They would call and ask if I was playing week,” said
Johnson about a frustrating rookie year in which he participated in only a
handful of practices and played in no games because of a nagging hamstring
injury

“It’s kind of got to the point where I didn’t want to look
at the phone. It’s fun now to say I practiced again. I practiced again. I have
put a couple of practices together. Hopefully, they will stop asking if I
practiced.”

So put Johnson's participation in offseason workouts the past
two weeks in the category of small victories for him and the Cowboys.

But slow down on any talk of Johnson being a favorite to
help solve the Cowboys questions at safety opposite Barry Church.

Remember Johnson missed OTAs last year after being drafted
in the fourth round out of Eastern Washington because of school.He then injured
his hamstring in minicamp, which forced him to miss most of training camp _
outside of a few practices leading up to the team’s third preseason game
against the St. Louis Rams.

Johnson played 12 snaps against the Rams but re-injured the
hamstring the process.

He was placed on injured reserve to start the season before
returning to practice in mid-October. Two days before he set to play in his
first NFL game against Carolina
on Oct. 21 he re-aggravated the hamstring injury.

Secondary coach Jerome Henderson is just happy to see
Johnson on the field and considers him no different than a rookie

“Absolutely by a long shot, this is the longest stretch we
have seen Matt,” Henderson
said. “Yes it is. So he is a rookie. He is not just like a rookie, he is a
rookie. In my book he is rookie just like all the other rookies.”

Henderson
said Johnson is progressing well but he didn’t see enough of him last year to
have a good opinion about his potential.

“He was only out here a day or two and he would have some
medical setbacks,” Henderson
said. “So it wasn’t enough to make an opinion.”